


Storm - Part Two

by lachatblanche



Series: Dollhouse AU [35]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Consent Issues, M/M, Mental Instability, One-Sided Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-25
Updated: 2013-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-16 02:45:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/856869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lachatblanche/pseuds/lachatblanche
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things fail to go according to plan and lines are drawn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Storm - Part Two

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick note to say that this story has now reached 100k!

There was a moment of silence wherein both Erik and Raven simply stared at each other, unmoving. Then Raven suddenly smiled, her mouth pulling up into an unexpectedly sweet little expression of happiness that was completely at odds with her merciless grip around Dr. McCoy’s throat.

‘Erik,’ she beamed, and Erik had to resist the urge to immediately turn around and walk out of the door before he had a chance to do something that he might regret. ‘I’m so happy you were able to make it!’ She bit her lip and glanced up at him coyly. ‘I wasn’t sure whether I had turned up early or not, but – well – it’s better to be a criminally early rather than fashionably late, yes?’ 

Logan, who had apparently decided that he had been quiet for far too long, took the opportunity to let out a snort of irritation.

‘I don’t know who you are,’ he grunted from his place at Erik’s side, his gun still raised and aimed straight at Raven’s head, ‘But the “criminal” part of that sounded about right.’ Logan’s eyes slid to Erik. ‘You know this chick, Lehnsherr?’

Raven turned to Erik before he could answer, beaming at him.

‘Erik!’ she exclaimed, looking genuinely pleased. ‘You’ve made a friend! I’m so proud of you!’

That finally got Erik’s vocal muscles working.

‘I wouldn’t exactly call Logan here a friend,’ he growled and slowly raised his gun up so that he was once again pointing it straight at Raven, ‘But then again, between the two of you? I know who _I_ would choose to have my back.’

‘You’re talkin’ about me, right bub?’ Logan asked after a pause.

Erik gave him a flat look before turning his attention once again on Raven, whose face seemed to have fallen in the face of Erik’s hostility.

‘Oh, don’t be like that,’ she sighed, the corners of her lips pulling downwards. ‘Look,’ she said, and pulled her hand away from McCoy’s throat, causing him to wheeze and sputter as he was finally allowed to take a deep breath. ‘There, everybody’s fine. Isn’t that better?’

Erik’s eyes drifted over to the knife in Raven’s other hand and he gave her a flat, pointed look.

Raven made a noise of impatience. 

‘Oh, right, _I’m_ the big threat here when the two of _you_ have guns pointed at my head,’ she grumbled, giving their weapons a dirty look.

But Erik was not so easily quelled.

‘I’ve seen you with a knife once before,’ he said quietly, his voice all but toneless, ‘and I don’t recall you having any trouble taking out the two armed men in that instance. So forgive me if I don’t drop my guard around you just yet.’

Raven looked chagrined at that but she nodded.

‘I understand,’ she said, sounding slightly subdued. She then, much to Erik’s surprise, lowered her knife so that, like her arm, it was resting against her side instead of being held at the ready. ‘Go on then,’ she said, reaching forward to ruffle McCoy’s hair and causing him to let out a frightened hiccup. ‘You can get off that chair now.’ She had barely finished her sentence before McCoy was out of his chair in a flash, darting away so that he was hidden behind Erik and Logan.

Raven rolled her eyes. 

‘Oh come on, it wasn’t like I was actually planning on murdering you,’ she said dryly, eyeing the Programmer’s trembling limbs with exasperated amusement. ‘I mean – it’s not like we can do this without you, Hank.’

‘Do what?’ Erik asked immediately, his voice sharp.

Raven blinked and looked up at him with a wide-eyed expression.

‘Why, the plan, of course,’ she said in a tone that very much implied that there was a _you dumbass_ at the end of that sentence. ‘The one where we sneak in and bring the Dollhouse down and rescue everyone. Why, was that not the plan?’ her gaze turned speculative. ‘Or were you just planning on breaking Charles out and forget about the rest?’

Erik hid a wince as Logan stirred at the mention of his Active’s name.

‘What the fuck is going on, Lehnsherr?’ he growled, his bushy eyebrows lowering even further down his scowling face. ‘How does she know Charles? How does she know _you_ , for that matter?’

Erik felt a bead of sweat run down his forehead.

‘Her name’s Raven,’ he said shortly, spitting his words out and not moving his eyes away from her. ‘She used to a Doll here at the Dollhouse. She was also, for a brief time, my friend and neighbour before I found out that she was actually an _unhinged, unrepentant murderer_.’ These words were spat pointedly in Raven’s direction. Erik took a moment to calm himself before eventually continuing in a calm, almost pleasant voice. ‘Oh, and she just so happens to also be Charles’s real-life sister.’

That, naturally enough, was what got a reaction.

‘No fucking way.’

Erik didn’t say anything.

Logan shook his head. ‘No. There’s no way. There’s no way in hell that _that’s_ Charles’s sister. You said she’s a goddamn _murderer_?’ He winced at the grim nod that Erik sent him. ‘God fucking damn it, Lehnsherr, you’re telling me that Charles – _my_ Charles – is the brother of a goddamn _lunatic_?’

‘Hey!’ 

Both men tensed at Raven’s sudden shout and they turned to see her fists clenched and her eyes burning with barely-suppressed rage.

‘I am _not_ a lunatic!’ she hissed, her face red and her eyes flashing. ‘And he is not **your** Charles!’ Her chest was heaving with emotion and she looked as unhinged as Erik had ever seen her. ‘He’s not _yours_ , he’s not Erik’s, and he fucking well isn’t _Shaw’s_. He’s _mine_. He’s _my_ brother and nobody else’s and if you fucking think that you can fucking well go ahead and take him from me then I swear that I will-’

‘You’re not exactly proving your point there, are you, sweetheart?’ Logan interrupted in what was probably an attempt at a lazy drawl but sounded a great deal more like an angry snarl. He was watching Raven with a deep sense of mistrustful wariness, her danger appearing all the greater in the face of her instability.

‘Please, Raven,’ Erik said quickly, stepping forward before things could get any worse. He glanced behind him to where McCoy was cowering against the wall and continued with a palpable effort. ‘Whatever may have happened before – it doesn’t matter now. We are all in this together – we are all on the same side here.’ He took a deep breath and prayed that he wasn’t about to make a colossal mistake. ‘The only sensible option here is to have a truce.’

Logan immediately made a noise that put Erik in mind of an angry rhinoceros. 

‘A truce?’ he spat, looking at Erik in disbelief. ‘Are you fucking kidding me? With _this_ psycho?’

Erik turned and glared at him, hoping very much that Raven hadn’t taken offence. This whole thing was taking far too much time for his liking. All he wanted was to just get Charles fixed and out of there so that when the time came he could arrest Shaw and then call for back-up to let _other_ people deal with the all other shit that he couldn’t be bothered with. Which, he thought glumly, glaring at the other people in the room with him, included mediating between a very mentally-unstable young woman and a man who looked like he would be more at home in the wilds of Borneo than your average high-tech, completely illegal, brain-stealing, soul-sucking corporate enterprise.

Raven didn’t seem too pleased about having to deal with Logan but she seemed to deflate at Erik’s look and she nodded, her shoulders slumping as she did so.

‘I had hoped that you would agree to a truce,’ she admitted as she slowly slid her knife away somewhere behind her back. ‘I mean, you’re right – it _is_ the most sensible option. And this way, I won’t need to hurt you if you get in my way.’

‘That’s reassuring,’ Logan said sarcastically, his expression full of clear distaste. Erik glared at him – Logan wasn’t exactly helping things – but secretly he agreed with the sentiment.

Raven’s lip curled as she turned to look at Logan. ‘I would watch it, if I were you,’ she sneered. ‘You wouldn’t want me going all _psycho_ on your ass, now, would you?’

‘You just try it, sister,’ Logan growled, his hackles rising.

‘Hey!’ Erik’s tone was sharp and caused the other two to immediately quieten down. ‘This is neither the time nor the place for this – _No_ , I don’t care what you think of the idea, Howlett, this is not up for discussion. The two of you are going to _shut up_ and _get on with it_ , do you understand?’

Both Raven and Logan stared at him for a moment before turning to exchange glances with each other, as if to say _can you believe this guy?_ And just like that everything seemed to settle down.

‘Right,’ Erik said, wiping a hand across his face and feeling suddenly exhausted. ‘Here’s what’s going to happen.’ He turned to face McCoy, who was still hovering nervously at the back of the room, albeit with more colour in his cheeks than had been there at the start. ‘You – McCoy, right?’ Erik waited for the boy to nod before carrying on. ‘You open the door and tell MacTaggart to get her ass in here, you got me?’

McCoy swallowed, looking like he wished that he was anywhere but where he was, before nodding hurriedly and darting over to the door. Erik sighed and turned his eyes back on Raven, who was looking after Hank with an almost fond expression.

‘Awfully jumpy, isn’t he?’ she asked, smiling slightly.

Erik raised an eyebrow. ‘Yes,’ he said dryly. ‘Having a knife held to your throat will do that to you.’

Logan snorted at that, causing Raven to pout and cross her arms over her chest.

‘I didn’t _actually_ hold a knife to his throat,’ she said petulantly. ‘I just … waved one about. It wasn’t like I actually planned on hurting him. I like Hank. He-’ her cheerfulness suddenly faded and she began to look pained and almost confused. ‘He – he was nice to me,’ she finished vaguely, her gaze suddenly far away.

Erik went still.

‘He was here?’ he said quietly, trying to control his expression. It didn’t seem to work, however, as Raven glanced up at him with rounded eyes and Logan shot him a sideways expression. ‘He was here when you – when you-’

‘Yes,’ Raven answered, her voice almost as quiet as Erik’s had been. ‘Yes, he was there. He was nice, though. He – he was always very kind to me.’ She glanced up at Erik. ‘He didn’t know what Essex was doing, you know,’ she said in what she seemed to think was a reassuring tone. ‘He’s not as bad as you think he is.’

‘He’s involved in this place, isn’t he?’ Erik growled. ‘I bet he’s _exactly_ the kind of scumbag that I think he is.’

‘You know, I feel like I should be taking exception to something there,’ Logan interrupted with his usual laidback drawl. ‘But – you know what – I’m going to let it pass for now.’

‘Yeah, you’re a real fucking saint,’ Raven snapped, glaring at him.

Erik’s mouth twitched. ‘What she said,’ he jerked his head towards Raven before turning his gaze over to the door, where McCoy was just letting Moira step through. She entered the room cautiously, her gun still drawn and her muscles tensed. Her eyes then fell on Raven and her eyes narrowed.

‘Mystique,’ she said quietly, raising her gun and pointing it at Raven. ‘Hank told me that it was you.’

Erik frowned at the name while Logan seemed to do a double-take, turning to stare at Raven, who was frowning at Moira.

‘Do I know you?’ she asked, looking slightly puzzled.

Moira shook her head.

‘No,’ she said decidedly. ‘You don’t. But I remember you.’ Here Moira lifted her chin, her eyes cold and angry as she faced Raven. ‘I could hardly forget. You killed my very first Active.’

Raven grimaced before nodding, looking thoughtful. ‘Ah. Sorry about that. Who was it? Jubilee? Bishop?’

‘Kitty,’ Moira said, and her eyes were clouded with anger and grief. ‘Her name was Kitty.’

‘Hmm,’ Raven nodded slowly. ‘I remember her.’ She shrugged. ‘Sorry about that. But then again, she _was_ trying to kill me at the time.’

Moira’s expression tightened but she didn’t reply. Instead, she allowed her expression to smoothen over before turning to Erik.

‘Is it safe?’ she asked.

It took Erik a moment to realise what she was saying. He frowned and turned to glance at Logan, who just shrugged. Erik let out a sigh before – with one quick, furtive glace at Raven – turning to MacTaggart and nodding.

‘Yes,’ he said heavily, meeting Moira’s eyes. ‘It’s safe. Bring him in.’

Raven immediately tensed.

‘Who?’ she demanded, and Erik saw the way that her fingers instantly crept towards the knife at her side. ‘Who’s out there? What are you talking about?’

Erik grimaced.

‘I need you to be calm,’ he said quietly, speaking as if to a startled deer. ‘Raven, listen to me, it’s important that you stay-’

But Raven’s attention was distracted by the opening of the door, Moira standing aside to let in Hank, followed closely by –

Raven let out a startled cry and grasped hold of the chair in front of her so that she didn’t fall to her knees.

‘Charles!’ she moaned, her eyes suddenly filling with tears of joy and relief and confused fury. ‘Charles, is it really …?’ her voice trailed off and she stared at the newcomer helplessly, looking as lost as a child. ‘Charles,’ she whispered again, her voice full of tears and longing and so much pain that even Logan had to look away in the face of it.

Charles, of course, was oblivious to the flood of emotion that he had caused, but he had looked up at the sound of his name, and, upon seeing Raven, had begun to smile vaguely at her.

‘Hello,’ he said, taking a few steps forward before Hank hastily grabbed hold of him. ‘I am Charles.’

Raven just looked at him for a moment before abruptly scrambling up and, before anyone else could intervene, darting in front of Charles and grasping him by the shoulders.

‘Charles,’ she said, desperate eagerness almost dripping off of her. ‘Charles, it’s _me_. It’s _Raven_ , Charles, your _sister_ , remember?’

Charles was starting to squirm, the normal, cool blankness of his expression rippling into something pained and confused.

‘It’s _me_ , Charles,’ Raven was continuing to say, her grip growing tighter and her tone more desperate the more confused Charles looked. ‘Dammit, _remember_ me, Charles, I’m your _fucking sister_ , you stupid-’

She was suddenly ripped away from Charles and almost sent flying by the combined forces of Erik and Logan, each of whom had expressions of the deepest fury on their faces.

‘Raven!’ Erik snapped, at the same time as Logan snarled, ‘What the _fuck_ is wrong with you?’ They stood in front of Charles, hiding him from Raven’s view. Moira and Hank were meanwhile trying their best to console Charles, who was still looking disturbed and confused, his skin pale and his eyes wide and staring.

‘ _He’s my brother!_ ’ Raven snarled back, straightening up from where she had fallen. ‘He’s _my_ brother, not yours, and I can do what I fucking well like-’

‘He doesn’t _know_ you!’ Erik roared, cutting off even Logan’s heated response with the sheer fury in his voice. ‘He doesn’t know _who_ you are or understand what you are doing. Look at him, Raven. _Look at him_ ,’ he bellowed, when Raven ducked her head sulkily. He waited until she had reluctantly lifted her head before continuing. ‘Do you see what you have done to him? Do you? He’s _terrified_ , Raven, and you – _you_ , his _sister_ – did that to him. Do you see?’

Raven turned away, allowing the fall of her hair to cover her face, as if unable to face the rest of them.

Erik contained himself with effort, his breath coming out in sharp fits and bursts as he tried to calm himself down. Logan, meanwhile, was looking at him thoughtfully.

‘Huh,’ he said at last, when Erik looked like he was once more in possession of himself. ‘Remind me never to get on your bad side, Lehnsherr.’

Erik found himself huffing out a laugh despite himself and he turned to Logan with a wry expression on his face. ‘Too late for that,’ he muttered, but there was a hint of humour in the words for all that his tone was gruff.

Logan snorted, a sharp grin alighting on his features.

‘Walked into that one, didn’t I?’ he muttered, but the grin still stayed on his face.

Moira rolled her eyes.

‘If you two have finished with the male bonding session,’ she said dryly from where she was huddling against Charles, ‘perhaps we could get on with the plan without any further interruptions?’

‘We should be so lucky,’ Logan mumbled, but he nodded in agreement.

‘Um – excuse me,’ everyone appeared to be surprised when McCoy – who had been as quiet as a church mouse thus far – suddenly began to speak. From the look on his face and the blush riding high on his cheeks, he appeared to be almost as surprised as they were. ‘I don’t really want to get in the middle of anything, but – what did you say was going on?’ He aimed this question primarily at Logan and Moira, as if unable to look at Erik or Raven without his mouth going dry with fear.

Erik had a hard time stopping himself from making a noise of impatience, which he only just managed to reign in at Moira’s pointed glare in his direction, before she turned and began to explain the matter to Hank in a soothing voice. Patience had never been one of Erik’s many virtues and his already paltry supply had run short very soon into the undertaking.

‘So,’ Hank said slowly when Moira had finally finished her explanation, pushing his glasses further up his nose as he frowned. ‘You,’ and here he gestured at Erik, who simply glowered back, ‘are with the police and came here to get Charles out and arrest Shaw.’

‘Without back-up,’ Logan chipped in helpfully, earning him an irate glare from Erik that didn’t actually seem to do much damage to Logan’s mood.

‘Without back-up,’ Hank continued nervously. ‘And everyone else just piled on and – what? – decided to help?’

Moira shrugged.

‘That sounds about right,’ she admitted, before throwing a dirty look in Raven’s direction. ‘Although I’m not sure how _she_ fits into the equation.’

Raven, who seemed to have got herself under control once more, gave a loud sniff that made her sound like the snooty, spoiled little rich girl that she was very much supposed to be.

‘You mean except for the fact that I’m Charles’s sister and that Erik here is my best friend?’ Erik made a low, strangled noise at that but no one paid him any attention except for Logan, who threw him an amused glance. ‘And there’s not forgetting the fact that once upon a time I used to be kept _trapped_ in this bloody place.’

But Erik was frowning.

‘Raven,’ he said tightly. ‘Just how exactly _did_ you find out about tonight? I thought that you were the one who sent the letter but that turned out to be Howlett …’ His expression darkened. ‘… So how the hell _did_ you get in on this?’

Raven shrugged, not looking at all put out by the question.

‘Easy,’ she said, tossing her blonde hair. ‘I broke in and found the letter. You really should take better care of yourself,’ she said reproachfully, shaking her head at Erik and completely ignoring the outrage in his expression. ‘It was _way_ too easy for me to keep track of you and then break in when you were out. Oh and by the way? I’m really glad you started showering again – that whole period where you just drank yourself stupid on the sofa and watched TV? That _really_ sucked.’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Erik mumbled, scowling. He determinedly did not look in Logan’s direction. ‘Never mind that now.’

‘Hey, you asked,’ Raven raised her arms in defence. ‘Besides, it was actually kinda sweet, if you think about it, the way you just fell apart after I-’

‘I said _enough_!’ Erik snapped. He turned to Hank, who gulped in the face of his ire. ‘We’re out of time – you need to choose.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Will you help us willingly? Or must we force you?’

Hank swallowed.

‘Are those the only two options?’ he asked weakly. At Erik’s glare he slumped, ducking his head. ‘I’ll help,’ he said quickly. ‘There’s no need for any forcing!’

Erik let out a sigh of relief and this thankfulness was equally clear on the faces of the others.

‘Good choice, bub,’ Logan said, clapping McCoy on the back with a powerful hand. ‘Fuck knows what Lehnsherr would have done otherwise.’

‘Let’s hope we never find out,’ Moira said sharply. She gently pushed Hank forward. ‘Go on, Hank, don’t be scared. Nobody’s going to hurt you.’

‘Unless you don’t cooperate,’ Erik muttered darkly, causing McCoy to let out a frightened squeak and Moira to roll her eyes.

‘Right,’ Hank stammered, glancing nervously at Erik before shuffling away. The first thing to do would be to get Charles’s memory file.’

‘And where would that be?’ Moira asked encouragingly,

‘In the office,’ Hank said at once, but then his face fell. ‘But the cupboard where the memory disks are kept is locked and – and I’m afraid that only Miss Frost has the key.’

Raven let out a snort. ‘Somehow,’ she said dryly, gesturing over to Erik and Logan, who were still holding onto their guns, ‘I don’t think that that will be much of a problem.’

Hank gaped at them for a moment before shaking his head and nodding. 

‘Right,’ he said hurriedly. ‘Of course. Never mind.’ He cleared his throat and straightened up. ‘So – once we have the disk … oh. I don’t suppose that anyone has any idea what Charles’s real name is? Only it would make finding the correct disk a great deal ea-’

‘Raven is Charles’s _sister_ ,’ Erik interrupted him, his tone scathing. ‘I _think_ we’ve got a good chance of getting the correct name.’

Raven smirked at that but her expression, when she turned to Hank, was kindly.

‘It’s Xavier,’ she said, a small, sad smile on her face. ‘His name is Charles Xavier.’

Charles’s head suddenly jerked up, causing them all to jump. He blinked his eyes and Erik, who was watching closely, saw the way that his lips moved to form the word ‘Xavier’. There was a small spark in his eyes and for a moment it almost seemed like there was some sort of knowledge behind the gaze … but then the light in his eyes dimmed and Charles’s expression returned to being one of gentle equanimity and everything was back to normal once more. 

‘Huh,’ Hank said, scratching his nose. ‘That rather seemed to trigger something, didn’t it? How extraordinary …’

‘Yeah, it’s _fascinating_ ,’ Logan drawled. ‘Now, can we get a move on or what?’

Hank nodded hurriedly and, pushing his glasses up his nose once more, started puttering about the office, mumbling under his breath as he went. He seemed to be in a completely different headspace than before. 

‘Right,’ he said a minute later. ‘We need to head over to the Programming Room so that we can set Charles up in the Chair.’ His eyes drifted over to Logan. ‘Logan will need to be there. You others …’ he hesitated but then he caught the matching scowls on Erik and Raven’s faces and he quickly deflated. ‘You others can come too, I guess,’ he finished lamely.

Erik nodded decisively.

‘Good,’ he said. He turned his head and his expression gentled when his eyes came to rest on Charles. ‘Let’s go,’ he said, in a markedly softer voice. ‘You – McCoy – lead the way.’

Hank nodded at that and, after making sure that Logan and Charles were following close behind him, turned to head over to the door to his office.

‘This shouldn’t take too long,’ he explained, talking over his shoulder as his hand reached out to grip the handle of the office door. ‘I mean, _yes_ , actually finding Charles’s memory disk might take a good few minutes, but once we do, it’s pretty much all plain sai-’ There was a noise like a squeak and then McCoy’s enthusiastic chatter was abruptly cut off.

The others all immediately lifted there heads, their muscles tense, turning to see what had caused McCoy to pause so suddenly. As they watched, they saw the door start to swing open, moving independently of Hank’s frozen hand and leaving the doorway wide and clear to view.

Erik felt his blood go cold. Beside him, Moira let out a stifled gasp and he could hear Logan let out a rumbling growl that cut through the otherwise deathly silence that filled the room.

‘Well, what have we here?’ came a low, rumbling voice, and Erik stared as a man the size of a small mountain and with an appearance even wilder than Logan’s loomed in front of them, blocking their way out. As they watched, his thick, pink-lipped mouth stretched out in a wide, feral smile, his teeth glinting in the reflected light in a way that made his canines seem excessively long. ‘A gathering of little mice, hmm?’

There was a moment of silence wherein Erik’s hand crept increasingly closer towards his gun, before Logan suddenly cleared his throat and stepped forward.

‘Creed,’ he said calmly, nodding at the man in the doorway. ‘Didn’t know you were around.’

The man – Creed – smirked at that, his lips twisting up further in a strange little smile.

‘Oh, I’m always about,’ he said easily, his eyes sparking with something that could have been merriment but instead seemed more like malice. ‘Always wherever I’m needed.’

‘That’s nice,’ Logan drawled. ‘But we’re fine as we are, so why don’t you go off and find somewhere where you _are_ needed?’

But Creed just smiled that same strange smile of his and stayed silent, rocking on the balls of his feet like a giddy toddler.

‘Who’re your friends?’ he asked abruptly, his gaze zeroing in on Erik and Raven. His eyes barely touched on Hank, Charles and Moira. ‘They’re not from around here. I would know.’

Erik’s jaw tightened but he deliberately refrained from looking at Logan, who was taking things surprisingly calmly.

‘You know Charles,’ he said easily, reaching up to scratch his jaw. ‘And I know you know the Doc, she musta treated you a coupla hundred times since you started-’

‘I wasn’t talking about _them_ , Howlett,’ Creed interrupted him, smiling coolly. ‘I was talking about Blondie over there,’ he nodded at Raven, ‘and this guy.’ His eyes met Erik’s and he smiled his toothsome smile again. It took everything Erik had in him not to lash out in that moment and do something stupid. Creed grinned. ‘The one who looks like he wants to take a knife to my throat.’

‘Isn’t that how everyone looks at you?’ Logan asked idly. When Creed only continued to watch him patiently, he sighed. ‘Look, Creed, I was supposed to keep this quiet, but these two here,’ he jerked his head over at them, and Erik was surprised to find that he and Raven were now standing shoulder to shoulder, as if they had drifted closer together since the time that Creed had appeared in the doorway, ‘well – they’re potential clients, see?’ Logan lowered his voice then, as if letting Creed in on a secret. ‘Frost didn’t want to let people know that she was allowin’ people to scope the place out, so she told me not to say nothin’, see?’

‘Hmm,’ Creed still had that same, strange look about him. ‘Miss Frost asked you to do this?’ Logan nodded. ‘I see. And your reason for bringing Miss Frost’s guests _here_ with your Active _and_ Dr. MacTaggart to see Dr. McCoy is …?’

‘I was already here,’ Moira said quickly, lifting her chin in defiance. ‘I wanted to consult with Dr. McCoy over the possibilities of any residual patterns in behaviour arising as a consequence of the Actives’ assignments.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Hank and I were just discussing the plausibility of such an occurrence when Mr. Howlett arrived.’

‘Yeah, and I thought it would be a good idea to keep Charles with me for the day,’ Logan added. ‘So that they could see what’s on offer, so to speak.’ 

Erik hid a grimace.

‘I see,’ Creed said slowly. He nodded to himself before turning to Logan and smiling widely. ‘And aren’t you going to introduce me to your fine guests?’

Logan seemed to have been caught off foot by the request and for a moment he just stared at Creed. Then he quickly shook his head and nodded, but not before his eyes had narrowed into thin slits of badly-suppressed anger.

‘Mr. Smith, this here’s Victor Creed, Head of Security,’ he muttered, looking more mutinous than anything. ‘Creed, this is Mr. Smith and his … wife.’ Erik swallowed down a curse. ‘His wife, Jane Smith.’

‘A pleasure,’ Raven said coldly.

Erik, for his part, didn’t say a word. He merely ducked his head in brusque acknowledgement.

Creed, meanwhile, was looking strangely thoughtful.

‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith, hmm?’ Everyone in the room kept completely still and Erik found himself wishing that he could reach over and smack McCoy around the back of his head in order to get him to change the petrified expression on his face. ‘That’s odd.’ He turned to look around at all of them and his smile slid back onto his face, full of devilish cunning. ‘You see, I was under the impression that I was going to be dealing with a Detective Erik Lehnsherr and a former Active known as Mystique.’

There was a moment of complete silence.

‘Huh,’ Logan said after a moment, and Erik could see that even he was struggling to retain his calm. ‘I didn’t see that one coming.’

Creed smirked, his expression bordering on triumphant.

Erik forced himself to speak. ‘How did you know?’ he asked tensely, clenching his fists tight. ‘How did you know who we were?’

Creed made a scoffing noise. ‘You seem to be under the impression that we have a substandard security team, Detective Lehnsherr,’ His lip curled. ‘Did you honestly think that your efforts to find us had gone unnoticed? That we wouldn’t know who you were? And you,’ he turned his face towards Raven, ‘You were not able destroy every single file that we had on you when you left here. We may not have met before, but rest assured – I have been made well aware of just who you are and what you are capable of.’

Raven snarled at that and looked ready to claw the man’s eyes out. It was only Erik’s reassuring brush against her shoulder that restrained her from doing something stupid.

‘I think the most important question,’ Moira said quietly, her eyes never moving away from Creed’s, ‘is just what exactly you intend on doing now that you know who they are?’

Creed blinked, as if in surprise. He turned to Moira with a pitying look. ‘I’m the Head of Security,’ he said pointedly. ‘What do you _think_ I’m going to do?’

Logan sighed. ‘Yeah,’ he said, almost apologetically. ‘See, that? That’s going to be a problem.’

Creed cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh?’ he asked.

‘Yeah,’ Logan continued. ‘See, there are five of us here – six, if you include Charles – and only one of you. Now, I _may_ be mistaken-’ his expression indicated that he very much was not ‘- but I reckon that six is a much bigger number than one. You get me?’ He paused. ‘I’ll give you a minute, if you need some time to figure that one out.’

Creed pretended to think about that.

‘Huh,’ he said at last, his voice slow and thoughtful. ‘Now that you mention it, I might need a moment. You see,’ his eyes glinted and Erik had a sudden thrill of foreboding, ‘I think you got your figures wrong.’

Logan frowned. ‘Oh yeah?’ he asked warily, his lazy drawl a great contrast to the way his eyes were suddenly alert and unblinking. ‘What makes you say that?’

‘Well,’ Creed continued slowly, his eyes gleaming out at them from under his thick, heavy eyelids. ‘I _may_ be mistaken, but – tell me: isn’t _ten_ a much bigger number than _six_?’

The next minute seemed to pass by in slow motion for Erik as the words sunk in. His eyes widened and he saw the mirrored looks of shock on the others’ faces, but it was already too late. Creed grinned viciously at them all before taking a step back and nodding. His chin had barely reached his chest before there was a sudden swirl of black and the room was immediately swarmed by almost a dozen uniformed, armed men.

Raven let out a noise similar to that of an enraged tiger and looked ready to leap forward, her knife already clutched tightly in her hands, but Erik quickly restrained her. He had seen the way that at least two of the gun-wielding men had immediately trained their weapons on her upon entering the room and he knew, however fast she was, that there was no way that Raven would have been able to make it to the front of the room without being mowed down by a dozen heavy, lead bullets before she had even taken her first step.

Creed, who had followed his men back into the room, saw this and grinned.

‘Good thinking,’ he said with a nod at Erik. ‘My men would not have hesitated to shoot her.’ He then turned to a murderous-looking Logan and shrugged. ‘What? You didn’t think that I would come without back-up, did you? It would have been singularly stupid of me, don’t you think?’

‘Yeah,’ Logan muttered, glowering over at Erik. ‘ _Stupid._ ’

Erik scowled and looked away.

Creed smirked before he then turned to look at his men.

‘Bring them,’ he ordered, before spinning on his heel and walking out of the door.

Erik snarled when one of the men came up behind him and started to pat him down, his expression feral and full of rage. Beside him, Moira was saying something sharp and dismissive while McCoy babbled on about something or the other that the armed men ushering him out clearly had no intention of listening to.

‘Get your hands off me!’ Raven snapped as one of the guards attempted to check her for weapons while another trained his gun on her forehead from a safe distance. It was this threat of being shot that appeared to be the only thing restraining Raven from cracking a few skulls and she scowled around at the men about her, her lip curling as she assessed each one. ‘I am going to kill you,’ she promised, her voice low and steady. ‘I am going to kill each and every one of you for this, you see if I don’t.’ 

There was a brief stir of unease among the men as they glanced at each other warily.

‘She means it, you know,’ Logan said from where he was standing with his hands behind his head. He grimaced as the man patting him down pulled out a knife from his boot. ‘Blondie there’s a complete psycho – I wouldn’t stand too close to her, if I were you.’

The man at Raven’s side edged away almost despite himself.

Logan allowed himself a smirk at that before a look of sudden outrage crossed his face. ‘Hey!’ he snarled, pushing forward, only to have a gun pressed into his back. ‘Hey, you get away from him!’

Erik quickly turned his head to see one of the men approach Charles, who was already showing signs of discomfort due to the increased noise and tension. This distress only increased when the man reached out to grab hold of his arm, his black-gloved hand closing tightly over the pale skin of Charles’s forearm.

‘Don’t you touch him!’ Erik immediately roared, struggling to move forward. ‘Get your hands off him!’

The man holding Charles hesitated, glancing between Erik and Logan and the other men on this team, none of whom seemed to know what to do.

‘He’s a fucking Doll, you moron,’ Logan hollered, his eyes blazing as he watched the man touch his Active. ‘You don’t know the first damn thing about dealing with him! Now _stand aside_! Or I swear to God, Frost is gonna have your balls – and that’s _after_ I fucking _gut_ you.’

The man hesitated for a moment before swallowing, and Erik let out a sigh of relief as the man finally let go of Charles’s arm and quickly moved away.

‘Here,’ the man nodded at Moira, who was watching in concern. ‘Dr. MacTaggart – you take care of the Doll, okay?’

Logan’s eyes flashed. ‘He’s _my_ Active!’ he snarled, although he too looked relieved to see Moira approach Charles and begin to soothe him. He was ignored, however, and soon they were all being prodded forward and ushered on towards the door.

‘Where are you taking us?’ Erik demanded as he approached the doorway.

‘Probably to Frost,’ Logan muttered over his shoulder, glaring as the man behind him poked him in the back with the barrel of his gun. He fell quiet then, and they all trooped down the stairs in silence, their arms in the air and grim expressions on their faces.

It was only when they were near the bottom of the staircase that Logan opened his mouth again.

‘Look,’ he said, and Erik could tell that he was taking pains to sound calm and reasonable. ‘Whatever you want to do with us – fine. But Charles, here – he’s a _Doll_. He’s like a fucking _child_. He shouldn’t be anywhere near here – you know that. All I’m askin’ is that you just let us take him back and put him to sleep again, all right? Just – to keep him safe, yeah?’

‘That will not be necessary.’

They all jumped at the sound of the voice that seemed to come from in front of them, floating in from the Dollhouse atrium. None of them recognised it – all they knew was that it did not sound like Creed.

Feeling anxious, they stepped down off the stairs and turned into the foyer.

Erik felt his heart sink.

Standing in the middle of the hallway, looking completely at ease and almost bored with the proceedings, was a beautiful woman dressed all in white. Frost, Erik guessed. A few paces behind her stood Victor Creed, his chest puffed out and his expression smug and supercilious as he gazed back at them. Standing next to Frost, however, with his hair slicked back and his expression almost frighteningly genial, stood – 

‘Shaw,’ Raven whispered, her body suddenly frozen still. ‘Sebastian Shaw.’

And the man in front of them – Sebastian Shaw – lowered his head and smiled.


End file.
